Former GUNS N’ ROSES drummer Matt Sorum is to release a brand new solo album in March which he says will contain songs he has been penning and compiling over the years.

Under the band name Matt Sorum’s Fierce Joy, Sorum will release ‘Stratosphere’ via his own Rok Dok Recordings and he reveals he has always been involved with songwriting and the process around it.

He tells The Street: “I’ve always dabbled on the acoustic guitar, and I wrote a couple songs for Velvet Revolver. In Guns N’ Roses, Axl [Rose] and Slash looked to me for arrangements. I wasn’t the predominant songwriter, but I’ve always been involved in the process.

“When I put ’Stratosphere’ together, I actually had a lot of it on cassette. I’d been writing the songs over the years, and I wanted to do an album that was just coming from me, regardless of anyone’s expectations.

“I’m known as a rock guy, but I’ve always loved so many diverse artists. I was a huge Joni Mitchell fan; I remember listening to a lot of her records back to back. Neil Young, Tom Petty, The Beatles, of course, and I was a huge Bowie fan. I was also into progressive stuff, like early Genesis, Peter Gabriel era. You can hear that influence on the new album; there are a couple of songs that have some interesting time changes.”